Out-of-this-world gorgeous: the FOREO UFO Smart Mask

"Turn a 20-minute treatment into a 90-second treat"

FOREO are most known for their brightly coloured and extremely popular silicone cleansing brushes that comes in all sorts of sizes, shapes and hues, yet they’re also an exciting company that strive to provide modern innovation in the beauty world, as demonstrated with their ISSA toothbrushes and their ESPADA blue light acne treatment devices – both of which fill surprising gaps in the beauty market, whilst still maintaining the whimsical charm thanks to the pop of colourful silicone.

Now they’re attempting to tackle the mask market with what they promise to be “the world’s most advanced smart mask” that’ll “turn a 20 minute treatment into a 90 second treat.”

The FOREO UFO is a handheld device that focuses on four types of salon-style treatments used alongside a mask insert that work together to maximise benefits. According to the site, the device quickly works through six different processes, starting with Thermo Therapy (to warm and infuse the skin with the mask ingredients), then the first of the three LED Lights are engaged (red, then blue, then green) before the T-Sonic Pulsation stimulates skin with a gentle massage and finally the Cryo-Therapy reduces inflammation. I’m not sure if the steps are set in stone, or if you can adapt them to suit your particular requirements – I hope it’s the latter.

At the moment, there are two types of masks to be used with the device: “Make My Day” – a morning treatment that provides hydration and anti-pollution, and the night treatment, “Call it a Night,” which promises to revitalise and nourish. The first downside I can see is that presumably you’ll be tied in to only using the masks that they have developed, as it doesn’t appear to be designed to be used with products in your own kit. This is a personal bugbear of mine as I don’t like the idea of buying a product, then being expected to buy further products to allow for continued use.

Interestingly, there are two types of the UFO being released: the main UFO which does it all, then the UFO Mini which is around $100 cheaper and doesn’t provide Cryo-Therapy, the consequence of which is that there are likely to be certain masks that aren’t supported. It’s up to you to decide if you can go without the cooling function, but I personally think it’s quite an important part of the process and, as someone who is prone to inflammation and rosacea, I really enjoy cooling treatments.

There’s currently a Kickstarter campaign running to launch the product, with various ways to get involved. Production will start shortly and the devices should hopefully start shipping in April 2018, with further masks launching in June.

I love beauty gadgets and I love masks, so I’m very excited to see what this device can do and if it’s going to be the sort of revolutionary product that could reduce the faff of at-home pampering…that is, assuming you want the time reduced, I personally love to take as long as possible when indulging in a mask and at-home treatment. Find out all you need to know here, where you can also get in early resulting in up to 50% off the device.